Grrrrrrrrr

Typically, I am a rather mild-mannered person.  I don’t have anything going on in my life where I am continually angry, nor do I have a short fuse.  You have to be horribly unaware to get under my skin easily.  I will admit that I don’t put up with bullshit very well.  Get in my face with bullshit and I will either turn away, recognizing the battle as not worth the effort, or come on to you like a Gattling Gun.

HOWEVER, one thing that does really get under my skin are Scams!!!

I’ve been incredibly lucky so far.  I’ve known a couple of folks who have gone through the maze of reasserting their ID.  One girl I worked with a few years back had her identity stolen and it took literally years for her to regain control of it. 

The few times I’ve been a victim have been mild.  Twice Target has called me and asked if I tried to make an on-line purchase of Target gift cards using my credit card.  No, never done that!!!  Thank you so much for alerting me and thereby closing out that card to render it useless to the scammer. 

I do actually love all the steps credit cards and banks, etc. have put in place to protect us from these scoundrels.  But, you do have to stay on top of your own inclinations that can get you into trouble.  Recently I was reminded.

Years ago, there was a women’s clothing store called Coldwater Creek.  I loved Coldwater Creek and shopped there often.  At Christmas the store was always on my wish list for any gift from there.  Over time they shut down their stores but are still online. 

And, adding to the story…. I learned long ago not to purchase anything online through Facebook.  Early on, whenever I did this, I was always disappointed at the quality of what I purchased.  But, recently I slipped.

I saw ads on Facebook for Coldwater Creek merchandise at astonishingly low prices.  The old adage of “Its to good to be true” should have come to mind….but it didn’t.  I selected about 5 items that totaled around $35.00.  That should have been another warning…..typically those 5 items would have been well over $300.  I placed my order, paid via my credit card, and was blissfully happy for about 45 seconds. 

Then it occurred to me to look at the comments section of the post.  Geeze, ole Pete!!!  Every comment was about how buyers had never received their merchandise.  Then I looked at the web address of the poster, and it was not an ‘https’ address for Coldwater. 

2 minutes later I was calling my credit card company cancelling the purchase, which so thankfully they did without question.  Once again, I had to close down that credit card and wait for 6 days for a new one.  After hanging up from that call I went to the Coldwater Creek website and found the exact same items that I had attempted to purchase for prices ranging from $55 - $80 each.

I wrote to CC and let them know that someone was misusing their name and logo.  It was interesting, within about 3 hours I received an email from them thanking me for the information. 

So, once again, I am reminded to be ever wary.  I know to be so….but it is so easy to slip up.

Grrrrrrrrr